Eating Seattle: A Tom Douglas restaurant crawl

I made my parents take me to Palace Kitchen 12 years ago to celebrate my 21st birthday. It'd just opened, and I was just beginning to follow the restaurant scene around town. I'd caught the bug, the thrill of the news that a restaurant would be opening, the research of where the chef had cooked before...I love all of it, and I guess I was just starting that love affair back then.


Anyways, SCORE! My parents were footing the bill (birthday and all), so I chose Palace. It was, to me, a fancy place. I mean, it was DOWN TOWN. Parking was NOT EASY. It was a thrill to be in that room. I loved the horseshoe-shaped bar (still do, actually). It was a great meal. I had a pumpkin risotto. It was amazing.

Fast-forward to last Tuesday night. Ed and I had been given a gift certificate to all of Tom Douglas's restaurants for Christmas, and since most of our dining out is now focused on whichever (usually new) restaurant I'm covering for Seattle Magazine, we thought we'd use the GC to enjoy a night out that I wasn't going to have to write about later. And it just happened to be our anniversary. Ed hadn't been to most of Tom Douglas's restaurants (and I usually just hit Palace for a drink once a year or so), so we decided on a Tom D restaurant crawl.


We started the night at Dahlia Lounge, sat at the bar and ordered a raw bar sampler, plus a martini for him and a glass of Prosecco for moi. We were excited, in a celebratory mood, so the fact that the bartender was a complete and utter dud (who clearly had a boner for a chick at the bar, because he pretty much ignored everybody else) was a major bummer.


The food, though, was really good. We loved the kanpachi, which had a little shiso and crisp pear; the smoked salmon, which was fantastic!; and the sesame tuna. The only exception was a squid-potato salad--the potatoes were very undercooked, so the whole thing had a terrible raw-potato texture. Unfortunately, our bartender was busy making googly eyes at the chick; when he finally checked in with us and I told him about the potatoes, he just kind of shrugged and said, "oh, sorry." Ugh. We left.

Off to Etta's, which hasn't really been my favorite throughout the years. Maybe it's because I worked at Pike Place Market for so many years, and everyone in the market is always telling every tourist they talk to to go to Etta's for seafood. But Ed had never been, and I felt like I needed to give it a chance. So, to Etta's.


Again, we copped a squat at the bar at Etta's. The bartender there was great--he's worked there for 12 years (seriously!) and I remember saying to Ed that he had a friendly ease about him. Like, "this job is easy and fun," you know, cause really, it kind of is if you like being a bartender. He poured me two wines to taste (so nice when they just do that without making it a big deal).


So we ordered the mini crabcakes, which come with a little dish of tomatillo salsa. Yum. Ed said these were the best crab cakes he'd ever had (and, bonus: I found the recipe so now I can make them at home). The room is dated, but it's also comfortable. We had a good time at Etta's.

Back up that steep hill to Lola. Again, we sat at the bar, debated whether we should order the goat tagine (entree) or the lamb kabobs (appetizer), and decided on the lamb (hey, we still had Palace Kitchen to go, so we had to keep it quick and relatively light). We also ordered skordalia (a garlicky dip) and feta with fresh pita. The kabobs arrived on a hot platter, all savory and lamby. This was delicious. It made me want to go back and get the "big dinner" which is like a greatest-hits 5-course feast.


Off to Palace Kitchen. After eating three dishes at three restaurants (and, uh, more than a little vino), we were moving a leetle beet slower, but remember: I'm a professional!

We'd asked the bartender at Lola for his faves at Palace, and he told us he always gets the wings. Wings? Really? Well, we went for it, and these wings were fan-f*cking-tastic. First off, they're real wings, not those grody fat globules fried in day-glo chili sauce. These were, you know, chicken wings like the ones you see when you look at a roast chicken. I asked one of the cooks what they put in the marinade, and he said it's a long list, including soy sauce, Worcestershire, garlic, and so on. I'm telling you. Order these.


Then we shared the hamburger. Locals know that the Palace hamburger has a cult following. But honestly? While the burger was good, the fries kicked the burger's ass. These were fantastic fries, left to get nice and dark in the fryer. I'm not even a fry person, really, and I loved these. Anyhow, didn't the burger used to be served on a 2-tiered thingy? It wasn't, and I was somewhat disappointed. It was a good, respectable burger, but really, those wings and those fries...yum.

Oh, and a little shout-out to Sandy, the bartender who was charming and sweet. He's been at Palace for a dozen years (which means he was working there when I came in for my birthday). That's--count 'em---two bartenders out of four who've been working for Tom D for over a decade. They both made our night. We had a great time--thanks S & P!

Dahlia
Etta's
Lola
Palace

[where: 98101]

Food News: Chowhounders pick their fave restos of 2007

I dread the "Oh, so you're a restaurant critic? OK, then. Where's your favorite restaurant?" question more than I can say.

It's so much more complicated than that, don't you think? Where I go for a date with my husband on a Wednesday night is so different from where I'd take my parents for their anniversary, or where my sister and I would meet for a glass of wine and an affordable dinner. There are great restaurants for each of these occasions, but they're not the same great restaurant.

And that's why the list over at Chowhound is great. Chowhounders didn't just list the five fanciest special-occasionish places in town, they listed their five favorite places, period. The result is a huge cross-section of fancy/cheap/reliable/quirky and so on. It's not the same old list you see everywhere.

No one restaurant received more than five first place votes, which I think speaks to the fact that Seattle has many good to very good restaurants but none that are head over heels better than all the others

This years winner is the same as last years winner... Harvest Vine. Harvest Vine, however, did not receive the most first place votes; that distinction goes to Lark and Union which both had five first place votes. Here's the list.

Harvest Vine 42 points (11 total votes ) {2 first place votes}
Lark 40 (10) {5}
Green Leaf 35 (10) {3}
Union 35 (8) {5}
Salumi 28 (8) {1}
Volterra 26 (8) {4}
Boat Street 25 (6) {3}
Mistral 20 (4) {4}
Tamarind Tree 18(7) {1}
La Carta Oaxaca 18 (6)
Paseo 16 (7)
Sitka and Spruce 15 (3) {3}
Restaurant Zoe 15 (6)
Café Presse 15 (5) {1}

The list goes on, so be sure to check it out.

Doesn't it make you excited about all the great restaurants you've yet to try?

[where: 98101]

Eating Seattle: Villa Victoria

Try this: Bring up the fact that Villa Victoria’s back open, selling those addictive homemade tamales, and you’ll know the real-deal food obsessives from the fakers. A happy light will come into their eyes, a smile will creep up, and before you know it they’ll be telling you all about the good old days, when Naomi Andrade Smith would pop open the window of her Madrona catering kitchen and dish out Seattle’s best tamales. Then they’ll start asking for directions.

she's back
Six years ago, chef Naomi Andrade Smith earned herself a cult following for her banana leaf-wrapped tamales, made with the most tender, moist masa imaginable. They tasted better than any you could get anywhere, including much of Mexico. But, just as Smith was planning to open a real store-front take-out shop to keep up with increasing demand, she fell ill. And Seattle went into withdrawal.

The good news is that she’s back in good health. The other good news is that she’s, well, back. Back with fried plantains that you can buy by the pound. With whole roast chicken adobo, ready to take home. Back with some of the best guacamole in the world (which you can pass off as your own—she won’t tell). And back selling those perfect tamales, filled with Oaxacan mole and chicken, beef with red mole, and cheese and jalapeno. The burritos are back as well: chile-marinated whitefish and lime, tofu in adobo, carne asada. All served out of a sunny, colorful storefront just off the main-drag in Columbia City.

Showing her Seattle roots, Smith’s roasting her own coffee, too. Sip a cup of her Café Mocambo brew as you browse the case, salivating over her spicy Mexican rice and homemade black beans, or the dreamy orange rind-flecked wedding cookies. There’s no doubt about it: The good old days are back. Get there and eat.



[where: 98118]

Eating In: Seafood in saffron sauce with calamari linguini

After picking up a bunch of goodies at Pike Place Market we had all the ingredients for a great seafood pasta, but we didn't have a sauce recipe in mind. So I did a little searching and found this recipe for seafood pasta on Waitrose (yep, Food Illustrated has a website!). We used this recipe as a jumping-off point.

I had saffron on hand, and we figured we could tweak or leave out the other things we didn't have (like courgettes, aka zucchini). I imagined the black "calamari" linguini from Pappardelle's would be beautiful against the pink prawns and yellow saffron sauce. And it was. Absolutely beautiful.


This was one of the tastiest seafood pasta dishes I've ever had. Perfect for having guests over because it's fairly quick and, again, so pretty on the plate.



Any combo of seafood would work here; as you'll see, the recipe is very basic, so grilled or seared salmon, mussels, or whatever combo of seafood you want to use would be fine. Think in terms of color, though--salmon would be pretty against the saffron yellow sauce, as would the dark color of mussels.


Seafood in Saffron Sauce with Calamari Linguini
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup dry white wine
3/4 tsp saffron threads
3 T butter
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2/3 c half-n-half
1 lb prawns, peeled and deveined, reserving all shells
1/2 lb calamari, cut into thick rings or strips
2 T chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1lb calamari linguini or squid-ink pasta (you can usually find these darkly colored pastas at specialty stores or in Asian supermarkets)

Place the broth, wine, saffron and prawn shells into a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook until reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.


Drop pasta into boiling water to cook.

While pasta is cooking, melt 2 tablespoons butter to a large saute pan over medium heat, then add the shallot and garlic. Cook (but do not brown) and soften shallot-garlic mixture for about five minutes, then add the prawns. Cook just until prawns are starting to turn completely pink. Remove prawns to a plate (they should be slightly underdone).

Once the pasta is done cooking, drain pasta and leave in colander. Working quickly, cook the calamari for 1 minute, then pour the saffron sauce through a fine strainer (to remove shells) into the saute pan.



Immediately add the pasta and cook for medium heat for 1 or 2 minutes. Add the prawns and parsley into the pan and immediately pour the entire pasta/seafood/sauce mixture into a serving bowl.


Serve hot with crusty bread and a nice Chardonnay.

[where: 98118]